Windows 7: Windows 7 Program Starting Problem

I hope this is the right area to post this, I wasn't exactly sure where this should go.



I've tried searching for the problem, but haven't been able to find anything that exactly matches.

About a week ago I started having problems opening programs, I'd click the .exe file, the computer would act like it was working on opening it, the little circle thing would spin next to the mouse, then nothing would happen. After trying it a couple times I checked the Task Manager, and it showed the program a couple times in there.

I ran a virus scan, and found and removed a few viruses, ran a few other scans with other programs and removed everything, but it still wasn't working right, so I ran a format on the drives, and re-installed windows, completely fresh install... but the problem persisted.

Has anybody ran across this before? I'd appreciate any help that anyone can provide.
Thank you
-Mitch

Download the free version of this;

Malwarebytes

and run a FULL scan. If it finds anything, post the log here.

Regards....Mike Connor

thank you for the quick reply, that's actually one of the programs I used to run the scan as well, before the reinstall of windows. It did find stuff, removed it... but after the reinstall, and updating MBAM, and running another full scan, it hasn't found anything.

Could you tell us, which program is that you have the problem with?

Most programs. Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, some games, AIM. Sometimes after a restart it would work fine for awhile, which is where I was able to get the scans done. It's intermittent... this morning, it couldn't do anything, about 4 hours ago, it was fine for awhile, now, anything that isn't already open won't open at all.

You say you formatted the drives and reinstalled Windows. Did you Delete partitions first, especially the hidden 100MB system reserve partition, and then recreate those partitions during the install.
And or do a Command Prompt Clean All Command.

I'm thinking there WAS/IS something in the 100MB system reserve partition that is causing these problems. So if you didn't totally wipe the drive, best way is to use the Clean All command, then it got carried over into the new install.

Not sure if the virus and malware scans can access that 100MB hidden system reserve partition.

May be time to start over making sure you WIPE the drive before you reinstall again.

I took your advice, and it didn't SEEM to help... though I do believe I might have tracked down the problem. I switched out hard drives from another computer I've had sitting around, after and it all seemed to be going fine... till about 10 minutes ago. Just a bit of back ground information. So being as how I'm pretty sure I can now rule out the 100mb partition... and virus all together at the moment... something occurred to me... every time I reinstall it seems fine at first. Then after awhile it just gets screwed up again. My guess is it has something to do with one of the recent windows updates... It seems like it started either after the SP1 update, or .net framework 4.0.

at least thats what I'm noticing. Though if anybody has a better idea, I'm all ears.

Some intermittent problems can be caused by hardware faults. Can also be difficult to trace.

Anyway, this MIGHT! help, if it is a .net framework problem. Get the standalone .net 4.0 installer;

Download details: Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (Standalone Installer)

And install the software. Reboot your machine and see what happens.

You will need to run an update after installing the software.

Regards....Mike Connor

Work through these troubleshooting steps